[MEMPHIS COUNTRY PUNK] The title of Lucero’s seventh proper album pretty much encapsulates everything the Tennessee outfit is about: Women & Work. It’s fitting, given the sextet has been on the road the better half of 10 years, releasing a flurry of country-punk rock’n’roll albums awash with frontman Ben Nichos’ tobacco-tinged rasp, brazen steel guitar and lush backdrops of Memphis sound. Lyrically, the new album represents no departure—Nichos still loves (and hates) women with the same unrelenting finesse as the band’s debut—but it builds upon the soulful honky-tonk of Lucero’s 2009 record, 1372 Overton Park, adding a healthy dose of horns and a gospel touch that continues to twist and tinker with the band’s alt-country roots. Here, the band is joined by purebred country upstart Sturgill Simpson, as part of a chili cookoff sponsored by the Portland Mercury.